The 2025 Night of Champions (), also promoted as Night of Champions: Riyadh, was a professional wrestling premium live event (PLE) produced by the American company WWE, held for wrestlers from the promotion's main roster brands, Raw and SmackDown. It was the 11th Night of Champions and took place on Saturday, June 28, 2025, at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Night of Champions is characterized by featuring championship matches; however, the 2025 event only had two, although two others were planned but were cancelled due to injuries.
The event hosted the finals of both the 24th King of the Ring and third Queen of the Ring tournaments; the last tournaments for each were held in 2024. This was the second Night of Champions to take place in Saudi Arabia, after the last Night of Champions that was held in 2023, and the 13th event that WWE held in Saudi Arabia under a 10-year partnership in support of Saudi Vision 2030. Like many of WWE's events held in Saudi Arabia, it was sponsored by the country's General Entertainment Authority via Riyadh Season. This marked the first Night of Champions to air on Netflix in most international markets and the last to air on Peacock in the United States as ESPN's direct-to-consumer streaming service assumed the rights to WWE's main roster PLEs in September. This was also John Cena's final Night of Champions appearance and last appearance at a PLE in Saudi Arabia as an in-ring performer due to his retirement from professional wrestling at the end of 2025.
Six matches were contested at the event. In the main event, John Cena defeated CM Punk to retain SmackDown's Undisputed WWE Championship. In other prominent matches, SmackDown's Jade Cargill defeated Raw's Asuka to win the Queen of the Ring tournament, thus earning a match for the WWE Women's Championship at SummerSlam, and in the opening bout, Cody Rhodes defeated Randy Orton, both from SmackDown, to win the King of the Ring tournament, thus earning a match for the Undisputed WWE Championship, also at SummerSlam. The event marked the return of Tonga Loa in his first appearance after suffering an injury at Survivor Series: WarGames in November 2024, and the WWE televised debut of Hikuleo, whose ring name was changed to Talla Tonga.
Production Background Night of Champions is a professional wrestling premium live event (PLE) produced by the American company WWE, established in 2007. It was held annually, airing via pay-per-view (PPV) as well as livestreaming beginning in 2014, but was discontinued after the 2015 event until it was reinstated in 2023; however, an event was not held in 2024. The event is characterized by having championship matches. In early 2018, WWE began a 10-year strategic multiplatform partnership with the Ministry of Sport (formerly General Sports Authority) in support of Saudi Vision 2030, Saudi Arabia's social and economic reform program. The 2023 Night of Champions was the first Night of Champions held in Saudi Arabia, which was in Jeddah, and it was the ninth event under this partnership.
On May 10, 2025, WWE announced that the 11th Night of Champions would return the event to Saudi Arabia in Riyadh and would take place on Saturday, June 28, 2025, at the Kingdom Arena, featuring wrestlers from the Raw and SmackDown brand divisions. This was the 13th event that WWE held in Saudi Arabia, and WWE's only PLE in the country in 2025 due to 2026 hosting three such events; excluding from early 2020 to mid-2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic, Saudi Arabia had hosted two events per year since 2018. The June 27 episode of Friday Night SmackDown was also held at the same venue.
The PLE was broadcast on traditional PPV outlets worldwide. It was also available to livestream on Peacock in the United States, Netflix in most international markets, and the WWE Network in any remaining countries that had not transferred to Netflix due to pre-existing contracts. This marked the first Night of Champions to livestream on Netflix following the WWE Network's merger under the service in January in those areas.
Storylines The event included six matches that resulted from scripted storylines. Results were predetermined by WWE's writers on the Raw and SmackDown brands, while storylines were produced on WWE's weekly television shows, Monday Night Raw and Friday Night SmackDown.
During the June 6 episode of SmackDown, the tournaments for the 24th King of the Ring and third Queen of the Ring were announced to begin on the June 9 episode of Raw, subsequently held across episodes of Raw and SmackDown and culminating at Night of Champions with the winner of each tournament receiving a match for the world championship of their respective brand at SummerSlam. The semifinals took place on the June 20 and June 23 episodes of SmackDown and Raw, respectively. Randy Orton and Cody Rhodes, both from SmackDown, won their respective semifinal matches, setting up the King of the Ring final, while Raw's Asuka and SmackDown's Jade Cargill won their respective semifinal matches, setting up the Queen of the Ring final.
At Elimination Chamber on March 1, John Cena won the men's Elimination Chamber match to earn an Undisputed WWE Championship match at WrestleMania 41 by last eliminating longtime rival CM Punk; Cena would then turn heel moments later, portraying a villain for the first time in over 20 years. Cena would go on to win the championship on Night 2 of WrestleMania 41 on April 20. On the June 9 episode of Raw, Cena was confronted by Punk, who challenged Cena to an Undisputed WWE Championship match on that night's episode. Cena accepted Punk's challenge only if the title match was at Night of Champions in Saudi Arabia (a reference to Punk's legitimate past criticisms of the company's partnership with the country). Punk agreed, and the match was subsequently made official for Night of Champions.
As a result of Solo Sikoa losing the Anoaʻi family's Ula Fala necklace and title of "Tribal Chief" to his cousin Roman Reigns during Raws Netflix premiere in January, tension arose between Sikoa and his other cousin and Bloodline stablemate, Jacob Fatu, which continued to build over the next few months. On the June 6 episode of SmackDown, Fatu overheard Sikoa insulting him while talking with JC Mateo, leading Fatu to betray Sikoa and cost him the Money in the Bank ladder match at the eponymous event the next night. On the following episode of SmackDown, Sikoa stated that he would appear on next week's episode, willing to accept Fatu back into the group. On the following episode, Sikoa apologized to Fatu, who did not accept it, and stated that Sikoa changed since he won the WWE United States Championship at WrestleMania 41 in April. Fatu then challenged Sikoa to a match for the title, however, Sikoa tried to attack Fatu, who prevented it. Mateo joined Sikoa to attack Fatu, who got the upper hand after an assist from his cousin Jimmy Uso. Later that night, Fatu announced that after speaking with SmackDown General Manager Nick Aldis, he would defend the title against Sikoa at Night of Champions.
On the June 9 episode of Raw, Raquel Rodriguez interfered in Rhea Ripley's Queen of the Ring qualifying match on behalf of her tag team partner Liv Morgan, costing Ripley the match. Ripley would in turn cost Rodriguez her qualifying match the following week. On the June 23 episode, Rodriguez called out Ripley, and a brawl ensued between both women, with Rodriguez performing a Tejana Bomb on Ripley through a table. Later, Ripley demanded Raw General Manager Adam Pearce for a match against Rodriguez, and a Street Fight was scheduled for Night of Champions.
Since early 2025, Karrion Kross had been targeting Sami Zayn with the two having several backstage confrontations as Kross taunted Zayn for failing in his world championship pursuits. After Zayn was eliminated in the semifinals of the King of the Ring tournament, Zayn was confronted by Kross once again on the June 23 episode of Raw, who claimed Zayn would never be a world champion. Zayn subsequently punched Kross, and announced that after talking with Raw General Manager Adam Pearce, a match between the two was made official. Later that night, it was confirmed that the match would take place at Night of Champions.
Cancelled matches On the May 5 episode of Raw, AJ Styles stated that he would be coming after Dominik Mysterio's WWE Intercontinental Championship, with Mysterio asking his Judgment Day stablemate Finn Bálor to deal with Styles. A match between Bálor and Styles took place on the next episode, where Styles won, and on the following episode, Styles's team defeated Bálor and JD McDonagh in a tag team match. Their rivalry would resume a month later on the June 16 episode, where Styles defeated McDonagh. Following the match, Mysterio attacked Styles, however, Styles fought back. Mysterio was then saved by Bálor, with Styles retreating with Mysterio's championship. After Styles returned the championship to SmackDown General Manager Nick Aldis, who was subbing for Raw General Manager Adam Pearce that night, Aldis announced that Styles would face Mysterio for the Intercontinental Championship at Night of Champions. The following week, however, Pearce announced that as a result of an injury sustained by Mysterio, the match was postponed, and thus would not take place at Night of Champions.
On the June 16 episode of Raw, WWE began teasing a rivalry between Liv Morgan and Women's World Champion Iyo Sky, with later reports confirming that a match between the two for the title was set to take place at Night of Champions. However, during that same episode, Morgan suffered a legitimate dislocated shoulder in a match against Kairi Sane, thus scrapping those plans.
Event + Other on-screen personnelRole:Name:English commentatorsMichael ColeWade BarrettArabic commentatorsFaisal Al-MughaisibJude Al-DajaniSpanish commentatorsMarcelo RodríguezJerry SotoRing announcerMark NashRefereesDanilo AnfibioDan EnglerDaphanie LaShaunnCharles RobinsonRyan TranInterviewerByron SaxtonPre-show panelMichael ColeJackie RedmondWade BarrettByron Saxton Preliminary matches The event began with the final of the 24th King of the Ring tournament, held between Cody Rhodes and Randy Orton, both from SmackDown. During the match, Rhodes performed a Cross Rhodes on Orton and Orton performed an RKO on Rhodes, both of which resulted in nearfalls. Orton attempted the Punt Kick, but Rhodes countered and applied a Figure Four Leglock on Orton, who reached the ropes to break the hold. Rhodes leapt off the middle rope, but Orton caught him with an RKO for a nearfall. As Orton retrieved a steel chair, the referee pulled it away. Orton then exposed the top turnbuckle, but Rhodes shoved him into it and performed Cross Rhodes on Orton and pinned him to win the match and become King of the Ring and earn a match for SmackDown's Undisputed WWE Championship at SummerSlam.
In the second match, Rhea Ripley took on Raquel Rodriguez in a Riyadh Boulevard Street Fight. Rodriguez dominated the majority of the match. During the match, Rodriguez retrieved a table and placed it in the corner of the ring. Ripley sent Rodriguez into the steel steps placed on the ring apron. Ripley then removed her belt and repeatedly whipped Rodriguez with it. Ripley performed a Razor's Edge Powerbomb and a kick on Rodriguez for a nearfall. Roxanne Perez showed up and attacked Ripley, only for Ripley to get the upper hand with a suplex outside the ring. Rodriguez then sent Ripley into the ring post and the steps before performing a corkscrew Vader Bomb for a nearfall. Rodriguez attempted a Tejana Bomb on Ripley through a table, but Ripley countered. In the end, Ripley performed an Avalanche Riptide on Rodriguez from the table, which was placed on the top ropes, and pinned her to win the match.